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Re: breastfeeding and cavities

Oh my goodness, ntaylor1222, what an ordeal you've all had to go through! I'm still floored at the restraining part. They don't believe in sedation or novacaine?! Do you have any other pediatric dentist options in your area?

I've posted my story a couple of times before but here's the short version (sort of). My ds night-nursed until about 2.5 and continued to nurse until 4.5. No dental issues at all. None. My dd had compromised teeth from the beginning. They came in with little pits. I wish we had done something about it sooner. But by age 2 they had decayed and chipped. We opted to have her go under general anesthesia to do the fixing. It went fine. She's had other cavities here and there since but they've been able to catch it sooner and fix it in the office w/sedation/novacaine if needed. We also opted to put sealants on some of her teeth to prevent future cavities. She's almost 5 now. Still nurses after brushing and had a totally clean dental checkup recently. Her dentist and I completely disagree on the risks vs. benefits of extended nursing, but we've pretty much exhausted our arguments on each other, LOL. I told him and his staff that I'd done my own research and would make those choices that fit our family. He's done a lovely job with her teeth and my dd loves him. Go figure.

The practice at this pediatric dentist office is that parents can be with the child for regular cleanings but not procedures. So there is a comfort level established with everyone before the child has to go in on his/her own.

Once you get that bacteria (s.mutans) in the mouth it's hard to get rid of it. It's the bacteria itself that causes cavities. Who's to say why one child over the other gets more dental issues. They really don't know. I've heard that the mother's dental health can be a big influence. I wish I'd known not to share utensils and thus share bacteria from parent to child or child to child.

I've also heard that a regular routine of wiping out the mouth with a clean washcloth for infants can get them used to someone cleaning their mouth. Then when the teeth erupt a soft brush can be used.

I don't buy the line of BF making teeth soft. If you look at it historically, tooth decay becomes an issue when refined foods became readily available. How could the nutrition that is designed for babies at the same time be detrimental to their overall dental health?

Re: breastfeeding and cavities

our dentrist we take DS to does not believe in sedation........and id have to say that we were against it also....there is always the scare that they will NOT wake up......the dentist does really great work.

yes the food mixing i believe plays a BIG part in it....I mean everything has tons of SUGAR in it. EVERYTHING that a kid likes.

This is DH talking here....wife and i have been always checking in here for tips and what not and we always wondered if anyone else here had those problems we had.

thanks for the replies and support. More Dhs need to get involved with the forum. Wives need BIG support to keep going, cause it gets tough, everytime we always thought about weaning, we always would check here and re-commit.

yeah the sedation is a big concern for me....it really scares me. I am not trying to scare anyone but id have to agree with the dentist.....the restraining part i definitely not comfortable with and the leaving him part....but they get used to it.....when he had his molar done....he did not even cry or struggle at all....the dentist said they wished they would have videod the visit of him getting his molar drilled and filled. he was perfect that time, but when we went to get him his checkup the last time, he started to cry when we left him in there.....HEARTBREAKING!

So they really dont ask us if he still has his boobies anymore, i guess they know we are lying....but hey.

so through all this we are still going to stick with the brushing 3 times a day regimen. believe me we were brushing his teeth religiously before bed, but with compromised teeth it was just getting worse and worse. somekids are different i am sure, but this was just one of the worst experiences i think we ever went through. thanks for listening.
Curt and Nicole
Robert
Samara

Re: breastfeeding and cavities

Curt and Nicole,

Thanks so much for sharing the story. Yeah - the whole thing sounds scary. We were given three options - restraining him, putting him under in the OR, or oral sedation maybe after he is 2... I guess there's bad things with all of the options. His next appt. is on the 22nd so we'll see what they say at that point. His tooth is about half gone now. Last time if was maybe 3/4 gone...